Thanksgiving Week

With classes closed this week, we decided to take some field trips.  The Crocker Art Museum just opened a new kid-friendly exhibit which they enjoyed.  We walked around Old Sacramento, visiting the school and the train museum as usual.  We took a couple tours of the trains before playing with the train tables and the model trains.  We checked out some new books from the library, but there was no storytime this week.  We had a playdate at Rockin Jump and Imagine That, where we had great fun bouncing followed by some painting, experimenting with air, and building marble runs.  Our final "field trip" was to grandparents for Thanksgiving, where Genevieve helped make cookies.

When we weren't on the go, we began getting ready for Christmas.  Genevieve decorated a gingerbread house.  Tobias and Genevieve began to make Christmas presents for family.  We read some books about Thanksgiving, like a Daniel Tiger book about Thanks, Bear Give Thanks, and non-fiction about harvest festivals around the world.  We made a turkey with thankful feathers, and Genevieve drew a family picture with a young turkey for Grandma and Grandpa.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

We had fun creating a Thanksgiving tree this week, making some leaf, pumpkin and animal ornaments while talking about the feast of 1621 and the creation of Thanksgiving during the Civil War.  We made a few Creatology decorations - a tree house and a teepee.  Although our decor had the traditional view, we talked about how the Puritans and Wampanog didn't really look like that.

We went to all our usual activities, knowing that we wouldn't be able to next week.  Our last zoo class was this week, where we learned about rivers and ponds.  We read "Over in the River" to prepare, which also is  a lesson in some of the rivers of the US.  In class, they made fish hats and frog mail holders.  They met a toad and a kookaburra, and fed some Koi.  She made a tree banner at Michael's. 

We also made our own instruments at home out of recycled materials.  Boxes and rubber bands for guitars and shakers out of old bottles and rice or beans.  We observed how different materials make different noises when hit.

Playing Catch Up

We passed a cold around for a bit and poor Genevieve took the longest to recover so we stayed home and rested a lot.  Now we've been catching up with classes and returning to our regular schedule after dropping off Grandmum at the airport.

Before she left, Genevieve and Grandmum made "snow" out of baking soda and shaving cream, experimented with melting ice, and played music with glass bottles filled with water.  All those ideas came from DK's Look I'm a Scientist.  We've built puzzles and enjoyed some games.  Genevieve enjoys the new Disney princess cupcake game.  Tobias has been painting and lining up trains.  We made some Day of the Dead art and enjoyed some nature walks.

We had some friends over for a science day, but since we missed one we combined topics.  We explored light and shadows with a Herve Tullet book and compared flourescent and phosphorescence using a black light and the Thames and Kosmos kit.  It was fun comparing the tonic water, tumeric and detergent under a black light.  We used some red cellophane to create a red light to explore the opposite end of the spectrum too.  We also played with magnet wands to discover what is magnetic.  We also made our own electromagnet by wrapping copper wire around a nail.  We looped the ends and used electrical tape to attach them to a D battery and watched the nail pick up paper clips.  We used some balloons to have fun with static electricity too.

We made it back to Music Makers, where Genevieve and Tobias try to help me play piano this month.  Genevieve made it back to zoo class where we learned about the rainforest.  She learned about the layers and the animals that might be found there.  They used plastic eggs and beads to create a snake as well.  At Michael's, she made an ornament out of craft sticks.

On our own, we've been coloring and creating some Thanksgiving cards.  We read about simple machines and looked for some toys that are simple machines like our balance and toy screws.  We've been reading about Thanksgiving as well.